A Dawning Realisation...

The hour strikes twelve and the magic dissipates. Quicker than you can snap your fingers. And I have ceased to believe in my own fairytale. It has all come to an end. A standstill. A complete stop. And I have ceased believing in true love, endless love, everlasting love in real life, in my life. For now that is.

I was on the telephone with a close friend last night and we were on the topic of love, dating and that related field of stuff. And somehow, it just kind of dawned on me, that enough is enough. Somehow, the past has returned to haunt me again. Unconsciously. Inevitably.

And I detest that I have fallen prey to this torment. Afterall, doesn't "Valerie" means "to be strong"? My very name itself, speaks of strength. I have to triumph completely over this. But presently, I discover I still am incapable of doing so. Still, there are wounds barely healed, contrary to my earlier beliefs.

The past serves a many great lessons. A couple of which I have learnt, the painful way. There were decisions I had regretted making. And there were decisions I regret not making. Nonetheless, they are all history now.

But I shall digress a little.

Friendship. Such a powerful thing that brings two strangers together. I am ever grateful for this thing called friendship. With wonderful friends and family, what more does a person want?

All right, music is unfortunately messing up with my train of thoughts and I'm afraid I shall have to end abruptly here. And I do realise that I've been prattling on and on throughout the entire post. Do pardon me. Like I said, music is messing up my thoughts.

And oh yes, now I digress completely.

There is something decidedly pleasant about tinkering around in the kitchen with the pots and pans. There was no dinner made tonight, so I had to settle my own dinner, which was spaghetti, made proudly by none other than yours truly. All right, I admit, I cannot cook for nuts. So making NICE spaghetti is rather an achievement. I presume. Haha. But I confess, the sauce came from a can. Lol.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

A very Merry Christmas to everyone out there!!

And I honestly am dreaming of a white christmas. With snow gentling spiraling down from the heavens above, with a glass of lovely french wine and some delicious christmas delicacies and a group of loved ones. That shall be on my to-do list someday.

I went shopping yesterday afternoon in Orchard TANGS, and nearly got squashed to death on my way to City Hall. The amount of people on the streets, roads, and everywhere else is simply astounding.

Thanks for the champagne chocolates, Hengky! Absolutely lovely. Song Wei and Wei Qiang, thanks for the teddy bear! XD Cindy, thanks for all the chocolate and candies! To my relatives, thanks for all your gifts. Talz and Marc, I shall thank you guys in advance =P Thanks to everyone else for all the well-wishes!! =D

Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled."

Home Sweet Home

Good evening! And I have returned from my holiday trip in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Macau. 'Twas a splendid trip and I had quite a bit of fun. Hong Kong is indeed shoppers' paradise. All I did there aside from sight-seeing was to mai dong xi, chi dong xi. It was madness man. There was a street called Ladies' Street (nu ren jie) and after about 3 long hours, I emerged from the street with my arms loaded with bags. Congee and dim sum there is absolutely superb.

On the 3rd day, we went to Shenzhen via the train, en route New Territory. We spent two days in Shenzhen sight-seeing and of course, shopping.

We left for Macau on the 5th day and I have never seen so many casinos in my entire life. According to the tour guide, Macau is 28 square km in size. And there is a total of 28 casinos in Macau. That's like one casino per square km. Awed.

We went back to Hong Kong on the 6th day and headed straight for Disneyland. I sat Space Moutain like 3 frickin' times. Quite thrilling. Haha. But um, the Disneyland was kind of small, compared to the one in L.A. that is. Cos I went to Disneyland L.A. from 7am - 12 midnight, and I couldn't finish walking the whole place. But it was still great la. I watched nearly all the musicals in there and they were great! The Disney parade was awesome as well.

We left Disneyland at about 7pm and checked into our hotel: Disneyland Hollywood Hotel. It was frigging AWESOME!! There were mickeys everywhere! Mickey Restaurant, Mickey shower curtains, Mickey shampoo bottles, Mickey bathroom slippers, Mickey benches, Mickey this, Mickey that. Even the train to Disneyland has Mickey windows and Mickey handles!! Absolutely enchanting. My sister and I was going insane down there, snapping pictures away like raving lunatics.

Awesome. I was nearly unable to close my luggage on the day to return home. I had to open the luggage extension. Haha. And oh yes! I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest on the way to Hong Kong on the plane. It was SO frickin' hilarious I laughed out loud on the plane. I think the other passengers must have thought me insane. But it was a good movie. Johnny Depp is the coolness, man.

And now that I'm back, it's all the hustle and bustle in the preparation of... CHRISTMAS!! Yesterday I watched Eragon with Adam. The movie was not bad, but of course as usual, the novel had much more details. Then I bought 2 VCDs: Tarzan and Cinderella. I spent the night watching both of them. Tarzan was REALLY nice!! Phil Colins rocked too! Music was awesome, story was awesome. Cinderella makes me all dreamy and floaty; prince charming and all that stuff yeah =D

Deck the halls with boughs of holly! Fa la la la la, la la la la.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Evening, good people! As of tomorrow morning, I shall be departing for my vacation in Macau, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. I will not return for a week, so please do avoid sending messages to my cellphone unless you should want to pay extra charges. You have been sufficiently forewarned. Lol.

Some Insanity Part II...

The nearly impossible has happened. Yesterday evening, I left the library with non-fiction books. Not one, but TWO. Truth be told, I am not particularly fond of non-fiction books and am certainly not an avid reader of them; therein the amazement lies. And to have borrowed them without obligations of any to matters pertaining to my acadamics as well. Haha, all right, but I must confess, these two books talk of the one subject that has staked a permenant claim in my heart: the Violin.

Music, the one thing that has never ceased to amaze me, to steal my breath away and to make my heart quicken in pulse. The lively tinker of a piano; the rich, mellow tones of a violin; the clear crisp sound of a flute. One cannot help but be swept cleanly away by the waves of emotions that stems from the very heart of music.

I was unable to sleep last night. I lay upon my bed and stared blankly at the ceiling, notes from Canon in D running through my mind. The two non-fiction books on the violin lay beside me, stacked neatly at the corner of my bed: Stradivari's Genius and The Violin Explained. For reasons unbeknownst to me, sleep eludes me. Frustration grew as the hour grew late. Each minute seemed like hours as I tossed and turned, flicked the lights on and off, still widely awake, no matter what. My thoughts kept wandering to music and my violin, affectionately named Amber, for its bright wood (I am, however, in the consideration of changing this name). Of course, eventually I fell into slumber at the most unearthly hour of 5am in the morning, and of which I had to arise at 8am to prepare for school.

I am in search of a new shoulder rest, preferably FOM (as recommanded by Marcus). Should anybody know of anywhere that sells FOM shoulder rests at a reasonable price, do inform me. Thanks.

To all cello lovers, I implore you to listen to Julian Lloyd Webber. Honestly, the Lloyd Webber brothers may be the death of me someday. Never again will I hear music like that from the Phantom of the Opera, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Time and time again, its music never fails to blow me clear off my feet. And Julian Lloyd Webber is simply divine on his cello. Had I been built bigger in stature, I shall certainly attempt to play the cello in the Chinese Orchestra. But alas, fate has it otherwise. Haha.

As Wedding bells ring...

Ah, what a glorious day! Today was the wedding. After much fussing over my attire, Mr. Conrad picked me up at 1.30pm and we were off to the wedding venue: Bedok Reservoir Park. Hauling our violin cases to the beautifully set-up marquee, I took notice of our surroundings. Balloons and ribbons were everywhere. It was so beautiful. We then set up our violins, tuned it and tested the mikes.

I pulled my bow over the A-string and accidentally exerted too much force. A awful screech emanated through the speakers and I, carelessly forgetting that the microphone was still switched on and clipped to the hem of my collar, exclaimed loudly in despair "OH MY GOSH". You can just imagine my shock when I heard my voice resounding from the speakers all over the marquee. Immediately, I slapped a hand over my mouth. THAT was SO utterly mortifying.

Anyway, the wedding itself was so beautiful! The bride arrived in a electrically-powered boat, flanked at both sides by two dragon boats, courtesy of Temasek Poly. And as the boat docked at the jetty, Ms Yeow started off the first notes of Canon in D for the bridal march-in.

Then came my favourite part of all weddings: the exchange of vows!! Ah... all the promises to take care of each other in sickness and in health and blah blah blah. Always the sweetest part of all wedding ceremonies, in my opinion that is. I couldn't help but grin happily throughout the entire exchange of vows. The solemniser was really cute when she said "You may now kiss the bride and everyone else please close your eyes." LOL!!

It was a really really sweet wedding. Even the reporters came, for they were the first couple ever to have their wedding at Bedok Reservoir Park. Even though my heels were killing my feet by the end of it all, I was happy =D

An afternoon extraordinarily spent...

So I was nastily jolted out of sleep by my ringing cellphone. Hastily picking it up to cease its incessant ringing, I mumbled a sleepy "Hello". An unfamiliar masculine voice reached my ears with words that were slow to register in my foggy brain.

"We are pleased to inform you that you have won a pair of movie tickets in the Book Review Contest held in Tampines Regional Library."

It took about a full second for all remnants of sleep to flee my mind and for the full impact of his words to sink in. Oh my frigging goodness. I WON!! All right Muffin, we're watching Casino Royale. No buts. =P

After the call ended, I leapt out of bed and danced to the living room exuberantly, still clad in my pyjamas. I think I scared the maid. Lol. =X

Later in the afternoon, I was to have a violin rehearsal for the wedding, held in Bedok Reservoir. The other two violinists were Mr Conrad and Ms Yeow. Mr Conrad was so kind to offer a lift in his car, and we ended up being the first ones to arrive. Having quite a bit of time to kill, Mr Conrad decided to - you won't believe this - FISH!! Apparantly, he has a fishing rod kept permenantly in the boot of his car for occasions such as these. SO, we went to the designated fishing area and he began to set up his stuff - rod, artificial baits and blah. Then he showed me how to cast the line. And then, he let me try it out. O.O

It was amazingly fun. I casted the line a couple of times, of course, not throwing as far as he did. I'm but a lowly inexperienced fisherman. Hahaha. The rehearsal was quite all right. Apparantly, we might have to lengthen our truncated Canon in D for the bride to walk all the way in and for the guests to settle down. And we may have to play a bit for the reception. Air on the G-string by Bach perhaps.

All in all, I must say, it was quite an extraordinary day. But I'm dead beat now. =.=

Rain

And so it gently falls again.
Pitter, patter, pitter...
Singing its soft melodious tunes,
that speaks of calm and serenity.
Pitter, patter, pitter...
It frolics playfully in the breeze,
Twirling in a joyful dance,
That falls upon the lush green grass.
But alas, the great winds blew,
and sent the grey clouds scurrying off.
The warm first glows
Of golden rays
Soon shone their light again.
'tis marks the end, the end, the end,
of their merry song and lively dance.
And so it pitter, patter and pitter
No more.

-LeVaire

And that was the poem I wrote while rotting at my game station in MMM during the OGL Camp. 8 hours of wait and only one group came. I had all the time in the world. So inspiration struck me whilst I was sitting on the hard, cold ground and staring out into the rain, falling gracefully from the skies above.